in clear—(of military dispatches, etc.) forwarded in ordinary language rather than in code:
- A letter in numerical cipher, since he does not give it in clear, still awaits decipherment.
in the clear—
1. not obstructed or enclosed:
- The valley was completely obscured by a thick blanket of fog while our cabin was in the clear.
2. free from guilt, suspicion, etc.:
- He says they told him he had been a suspect, but left him believing he was in the clear.
3. (coll.) out of reach:
- Even downtown they [policemen] are likely to be in the clear when you want them most.
4. (coll.) as a clear profit:
- When we counted up the final night we figured nearly sixty grand in the clear.
5. in interior measurement:
- A water pipe eighteen inches in the clear is laid under ground to the center of the yard.